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Israeli tourism has stopped, meaning that Hungarian tourism has lost one of its most important foreign markets for a while. Of course, this is not comparable to the situation there and is of a completely different nature, but it is undoubtedly due to the war, writes Világgazdaság.
Before the outbreak of the Israeli war, Budapest was one of, and sometimes the largest foreign market for the Jewish state, with tourists from Israel accounting for 7-12% of the Hungarian capital’s hotel turnover.
Israelis were one of the largest visitors to Budapest.
In June, for example, it was the third, in December of last year it was the first, and nationally, the second largest number of nights was spent by tourists from the Middle Eastern country, noted Tamás Flesch, president of the Hungarian Hotel & Restaurant Association.
The Dohány Street Synagogue is a historical building in the 7th district of Budapest. It is the largest synagogue in Europe, seating 3,000 people and is a center of Neolog Judaism. Photo via Facebook/U.S. Embassy Budapest
The expert stressed that the Israeli war has brought inbound tourism to a complete standstill. A similar situation has already happened for completely different reasons, for instance during COVID, when life suddenly overwrote scenarios. The loss is by all accounts unforeseeable now, and for the time being it seems that Israeli visitors will be sorely missed. Moreover,
the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war is still being felt today in this sector of tourism as well.
As of Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Consular and Citizenship Department has placed Israel on the list of countries with a high security risk II (orange). This is a category of countries and regions with a high security risk, recommended for urgent travel only.
Via Világgazdaság, Featured image via Pexels